AquamarineWorldA fleeting glimpse at a madwoman’s universe of mental chaos…

Posts Tagged ‘reviews’

A young woman involved in a political scandal falls in love with her bodyguard who has a dark past.

Pros:Cute leading man. Okay, I’ll admit this much.Good soundtrack. A couple of songs stand out.Kick-ass action scenes. That is, apart from the lead pausing to make sure his enemies see him before attacking.

Cons:Damsel in distress. Ugh! I can feel the feminist flag hitting between the eyes, and I’m no feminist!Paper-thin plot. I don’t buy the male lead’s sudden affection toward the female.Over-the-top acting. OMG, those fake laughs!Zero chemistry between the leads. No, I don’t care to elaborate.Lazy editing. Are those long pauses really necessary?Nonexistent character development. So why did the leads fall in love again?Gratuitous slo-mo. Enough to give Michael Bay a run for his money.Confused script. Tries hard to sell innocence and naïveté but falls flat.

Verdict: Will not be watching Healer anytime soon.
Cringe-o-Meter: High. Might not finish this drama.

Goblin (2016)

A general from the Goryeo period is cursed with immortality as a goblin until he finds his bride who happens to be an orphaned high schooler. He ends up living in the same house with her along with a grim reaper who shares a complicated past with him.

Pros:Amazing chemistry between the cast.Talented actors.Great soundtrack.Excellent expositions in flashback sequences.Top-notch costumes and wardrobe.Witty dialogues.Awesome special effects and animation.

So okay, I’m a huge Marvel aficionado and I’m sure fanboys will castrate me for this but here goes.. GotG is not worth the free tickets we watched it with!

First gripe, while I honestly believe that Chris Pratt is genuinely hilarious, the number of laughs on this film is few and far in between. My one conservative chuckle was only limited to the Kevin Bacon reference.

Second, each principal character’s life story is condensed into 1 or 2 spoken sentences and inserted so incongruently with the present story arc it ultimately left any smart viewer detached instead of empathetic toward the character. Apart from Starlord’s past, no other character background was brought to the screen. My 2-cent’s worth: best stick to the classic flashback montage.

Third, CGI is top notch as per usual Marvel fanfare – although we watched it on old-school 2D only – but a little less creative with the aliens, which apparently only comes in 3 1/2 skin colors: red, blue, green & ambiguous gray?!

True. I may not have enough GotG background as a solid basis for this review but I’ve always held a higher standard for movies, especially Marvel films ever since Iron Man, which was all too lovingly re-affirmed with Avengers.

Oh, but I do think this movie has one redeeming aspect to it: the awesome 80’s soundtrack!

Now, before I get banned for life from any Comic Con appearance in the future, please project your nerd-rage to the director of this empty shell of a box-office hit. He’s got money to burn and may issue a refund. Good luck!

Not 10 minutes ago, I watched this movie and it gave me the worst hibbie-jeebies of all time…

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Set in France in the 1800s, the story revolves around an unusual boy with an even more unusual ability. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born on a fish market and abandoned by his mother not long after, possesses an extraordinary olfactory sense. In his quest to discover all the smells in the world, he sought the employment of a known, albeit outmoded, perfumer (Dustin Hoffman) in whose tutelage he learned the fine art of perfume-making, and then some. In Grenouille’s morbid journey to find the ultimate smell, he had murdered 13 women and stewed their “essence” into tiny glass bottles to create the ultimate “love potion”.

* * *
What prevented me to enjoy this movie thoroughly was the presence of “nude” scenes in the film: the head-shaved women’s dead bodies and a bit of an “orgy” in the town square near the ending.

That being said, this has got the be the most disturbing, if not mildly horrifying, movie I’ve seen in a long while. Ever since the first murder took place, I have not been able to take my eyes off the monitor. And splendid acting all around, especially, Mr. Hoffman’s, British actors Alan Rickman and Ben Whishaw (Grenouille). This film is so deserving of an Oscar, at the very least.

The Hollywood movie making machine is in full gear as it churns up box office hit after box office hit out in the big screens this past few weeks. For 3 weeks or so, I have been fortunate enough to watch Hollywood’s finest films at the theaters, not withstanding the ridiculous prices for the movies here in Cebu these days.

Here is a list, in the order of its release dates and (ehem) my humble but rave reviews, of the movies I’ve seen so far these past 3 weeks:

Die Hard

An action packed thrill ride following the Die Hard series back in the 90s.

I must admit, though lacking in the CG (computer graphics) special effects department present in almost all of the current movies, this sequel is nonetheless brilliant and easily one of the best on-the-edge-of-my-seat kind of movies Hollywood’s ever produced.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

The fourth sequel to the Harry Potter franchise and thus far, the most disappointing.

In a matter of principle, I have stopped anticipating (read: liking) Harry Potter movies since Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Simply because I think the directors who succeeded Chris Columbus in the directorial chair didn’t have the same insight for the movie in relation to J.K. Rowling’s book. They twisted, butchered and shorten the story lines which I believed were key factors in the telling of the amazing world of Harry Potter’s. The new director, David Yates, did more damage to the book 5 than Alfonso Cuaron and Mike Newell put together. What should have been the longest movie in the series only had a runtime screening of 138 minutes in comparison to 157 minutes of the Goblet of Fire. There were less humor and more touchy-feely reflections of Harry and his past including the death of Cedric and scenes from the old movies, and it also has the weakest of all CG effects. At least in the HP4 and HP5 movies, the digital effects were enough to wow even the hardiest of HP enthusiasts. To think that David Yates is again slated to become the next HP movie director is enough to curl my innards.

Transformers

I am simply blown away by the CGI (computer graphics imagery) effects, the storyline and action scenes of this movie. From the intricate designs of the yellow Camaro (Bumblebee) and all the flashy cars to the humor thrown in strategic places in the film, I am impressed by the massive scale and of the great directorial talents of Michael Bay. Bright new talents, Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox and Josh Duhamel were excellent including a more brazen role for Amaury Nolasco, Prison Break’s Fernando Sucre. This is one heck of a must-see film!

So, I bought this book yesterday. A book I’ve been pre-reading at the National Bookstore for like a week. The day I went to purchase it I had an exam. Suffice to say, I couldn’t concentrate on my Prelim Exam on Assembly Language because all I could think of was finally getting my hands on this book. After I could no longer wring out any answer in my head for the test I haven’t studied for in the least, I submitted my blue book and flew down the stairs to NBS. But when I got there and Flowers for Algernon was literally right in the palm of my hand, I hesitated. I thought I needed more convincing to finally buy the book. Then Divine Intervention came in the form of Jessica Zafra. I picked up her book, Twisted 7 and I read in one of her articles a piece about the book. That’s when I decided irrefutably to buy Flowers. The fates have decided that I must have that book!

Despite my best intentions of refraining from reading the book so as not to devour it all in just one sitting, I began reading it last night and even surpassed the part where I stopped reading it in the bookstore. After I read about 50 pages or so. I began feeling like I was Charlie, the main character in the book. I began feeling like I was a degenerate wanting desperately to learn and desiring with all his heart to be smart. I was so sorry for Charlie that I had even momentarily forgotten that in the real world, he doesn’t even exist.

Now, it’s Day 2 and I just got home from school from my last Prelim Exam. Charlie’s intelligence had greatly improved just a few short weeks after his brain surgery and is now coming along very fast. He absorbs everything like a dry sponge soaking up water. I feel intensely all that Charlie Gordon feels and the part where I’m at, he is in love with his teacher, Miss Kinnian and he only just realizes it. I feel excited and elated just like Charlie. It has only been a few pages but I am simply head-over-heels, irrevocably and heart-wrenchingly in love with this book. I absolutely adore it! It is a summary of every human emotion and sensation in existence compressed into 311 pages. It is heart wrenching to the point of agony and disturbingly poignant! Daniel Keyes certainly knows how to tug at his readers’ heartstrings.

I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and I must say, I am a bit disappointed. The book raised more questions than it answered and it is suppose to be enlightening given that it is the second to the last saga before the unprecedented conclusion of the 7-part book series.

Here are, in my humble opinion, the points, which I deem to raise in question…

1. Why was Draco chosen by Voldemort to kill Dumbledore?

2. What would be the possible consequence if an unbreakable vow were broken?

3. Why Dumbledore said to the Dursley’s that they have mistreated and abused Dudley?

4. Why Dumbledore made Snape the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?

5. Why Harry liked Ginny all of the sudden?

6. Why Tonks falls in love with Lupin?

7. Why Bill is attacked by Greyback?

8. What will happen to Bill after he recovers from the attack?

9. Why Dumbledore believes that he can trust Snape just because he confessed to him about overhearing the prophecy and telling Voldemort?

10. How did Snape manage to fool Dumbledore into trusting him?

11. What is/are Voldemort’s weakness/weaknesses?

12. Why did Dumbledore risk his life on finding the Horcrux in the cave without help from the Order?

13. Who is RAB and why did he/she take the Horcrux?

14. What was it that Dumbledore drank at the cave?

15. What sort of mental anguish was Dumbledore subjected to?

16. Why did Dumbledore beg Snape not to kill him?

17. Where is Fawkes going after Dumbledore’s death?

18. How is Harry going to find the 4 Horcruxes?

19. Why is he going to leave the Dursley’s for Godric’s Hollow?

20. Why does Love prove to be Harry’s greatest power?

And lastly..

Why did Dumbledore have to die for nothing?

Pam

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